It seems that every moment of a child’s life is planned out these days, from school and extracurricular activities, to the constant stream of apps and games readily available on their gadgets to ensure that they are never bored.
However, if we are to look back on our own childhoods, it’s pretty clear that a little boredom or spontaneous playtime is often beneficial for a child, and one person who has spoken out to voice her support for this is England’s Education Secretary Nicky Morgan.
In an interview with House magazine, Morgan highlighted the importance of children learning how to entertain themselves.
Using her son as an example, Morgan said that leaving a child to find the solution to their boredom themselves is good for their development.
“If we say to him, ‘just go and do something’, it’s amazing how much the Lego will come out, or Playmobil, whatever it might be, and actually it’s lovely then to see him, he’s busy building things, Hot Wheels tracks,” she said.
In light of recent research on the danger of too much screentime, Morgan has come up with a solution to limit the amount of time her son spends with his head buried in the gadgets – a “screen ban”.
“Because of the growth of tablets and everything else and the fact that children are using them younger - which is many ways a good thing, they are great learning tools – I think it’s all kinds of new challenges,” said Morgan.
She definitely makes a valid point, and her “screen ban” is something that definitely warrants some experimentation.
